Casting Call: Cruella de Vil
In which we suggest who would star in the next big adaptation, remake, or historical film.
If she doesn’t scare you, no evil thing will… We are, of course, referring to fashion-forward villain Cruella de Vil. You’d better hide your furry friends: Ms. de Vil is returning to the big screen with a live-action adaptation penned by Aline Brosh McKenna, and produced by Andrew Gunn. McKenna successfully brought another evil fur enthusiast to life, The Devil Wears Prada‘s Miranda Priestly, so this film certainly has potential. Glenn Close, who played de Vil in the 1996 adaptation of 101 Dalmatians, is even set to produce.
Most know Cruella de Vil from the 1961 Disney animated classic, 101 Dalmations (the 10th-highest-grossing film that year!) but the movie was based on the 1956 children’s novel by Dodie Smith. In the novel, Mr. Dearly, the human who eventually must deal with the cost and emotional burden of caring for 101 dogs, is a financial mastermind who is frequently awarded large sums of money for solving major government tax problems. Because taxes aren’t very “Disney,” the animated Mr. Dearly writes jingles. Cruella de Vil, however, has remained true to Smith’s original: a wealthy old lady with a love of fur and a lack of concern for animal rights. Though we can relate to de Vil’s desire to look fabulous, it is her penchant for dognapping and puppy pelts that make her pure evil. But who can blame her, really? If our parents named us Cruella, we would probably be evil too. We trust McKenna to dream up a worthwhile plotline (including PETA seems like a no-brainer) but here are some suggestions for who should bring Cruella and company to life (again).
Casting Call runs every Friday. For more, click here.